In her 16 year old career, Deepakshi Malhotra has travelled to multiple countries. And, surprisingly, two such trips inspired her to take up data science and learn more on mathematics and Python for data science. So, she enrolled for the Certificate in Data Science Foundation (CDF) program at Accredian.
In this interview, let’s get to know more from her about these mysteriously inspiring trips and how her learning experience has been at Accredian.
Question 1: Which program & batch are you part of at Accredian & tell us more about your current work profile?
Deepakshi: I am part of the Certificate in Data Science Foundation (CDF) program, August 2020 batch. Currently, I am working as Senior Test Specialist at Fujitsu Consulting India and have over 16 years of experience.
Question 2: Walk us through your career journey & what got you interested in Data Science & Machine Learning?
Deepakshi: My career journey has been very adventurous. It started in 2004 by joining Rapidigm, which was later taken over by Fujitsu. My work experience not only expands on different projects, but in different domains all across the globe.
I would like to share two totally opposite clients and experiences, which were somewhere or the other the basis for my data science and machine learning journey. In 2012, I got the first opportunity to travel to the US for the client American Quarter Horse Association, one of the largest quarter horses organizations in the world.
On my visit, I realized everything, including the smooth functioning of the business despite size and locations, is based on data. On the other hand, my second trip to Doha in 2013 further increased my interest where my client, Qatar Petroleum, one of the largest petroleum organizations in the world, was also working smoothly, in spite of its vastness, all thanks to data analysis, which is part of mathematics and python for data science.
This made me immensely curious about data science. And because I already have strong analytical and logical skills, I didn’t delay any further but took the first step towards my data science journey.
Question 3: What all tools and packages in Data Science & Machine Learning have you mastered in your Data Science & AI program at Accredian so far?
Deepakshi: Presently, I am enjoying learning and mastering Python for data science. As I have enrolled in the CDF program, I am on my way to exploring other tools as well.
Question 4: What were some of the initial challenges when you got started on your Data Science journey and how did you overcome it?
Deepakshi: Connecting mathematics to data science was my biggest challenge as it was quite a long time ago that I have studied mathematics. So, to improve and progress quickly, I went back to the basics and then realigned my concepts to the present requirement and proceeded to master it.
Question 5: What is the goal of Data Science?
Deepakshi: As for my understanding, data science is the foundation stone of our future. It is the capability which we need to develop and master for extracting the maximum value to optimize businesses all across the globe.
Question 6: In your view, how has Data Science evolved in the last few years?
Deepakshi: Over the years, data has become the backbone of businesses big or small. So with the onset of data science, the world has become a better place to live in.
This journey started as a simple exercise of merging statistics with computers by John Tukey in 1962. Further embellishing the importance of data, in 1977 it developed to machine learning and artificial intelligence, which led to creation of voice input techniques.
This helped not only people with disabilities, but also in data visualization in every industry, from banking or pharmaceutical in present times, to even farming ultimately covering the whole human race.
Question 7: Which are some of the blogs that you follow?
Deepakshi: I have always found GitHub, KDnuggets, LinkedIn and Google News to be most informative for my inquisitiveness about data science and the programming language of Python for data science.
This was a conversation with one of our CDF students – Deepakshi Malhotra.
If you want to read more interesting student interviews, check out Accredian Spotlight.
